Arthur Quinlan

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Arthur Quinlan is a print journalist for the Irish Times, formerly based at Shannon Airport. Shannon is the most westerly airport in Europe and an important fuel stop for both eastward and westward traffic. As journalist there for over half a century, he has had a unique opportunity to meet and interview countless world leaders and stars as they passed through the airport. He has interviewed every United States President from Harry Truman to George H. W. Bush and many Soviet leaders, including Andrey Vyshinsky and Andrei Gromyko. He once said,

"I interviewed many royals including the Duke Of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret, King Michael of Romania and his mother, Queen Maria, King Peter of Yugoslavia, King Zog of Albania, King Ibn Saud, founder of Saudi Arabia, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Juliana of Holland and that lovely couple Prince Rainier and his wife, the former Grace Kelly."

He also famously taught Fidel Castro how to make an Irish coffee and is the only western journalist to have interviewed Che Guevara. [1] Guevara talked of his Irish connections through the name Lynch. He told Quinlan of his grandmother's Irish roots in Galway. Later, Che, and some of his Cuban comrades, went to Limerick City and adjourned to Hanratty's Hotel on Glentworth Street. According to Quinlan, they returned that evening all wearing sprigs of Shamrock, for Shannon and Limerick were preparing for the St. Patrick's Day celebrations. [2]

Quinlan was recently made a member of honour of the National Union of Journalists [3].